Blog – Page 74 – mindescapes.net – Art Works by Jim Sponseller

Bravado (story, part 1 of 3)

Charlie peered around the corner of the hen house, looking to see if any of the hens would see him returning. The coast clear, he stepped into the muddy yard and headed for the ramp that would take him up into the shelter.

Halfway up the ramp he stopped as he heard footsteps padding close behind. He turned, mustering all the bravado a lone rooster can, and glared right into the eyes of the red fox standing at the bottom of the ramp.

Charlie puffed out his chest, bright feathers rippling, and stretched tall. His bright combs adding to his height, making him appear larger than life, he stepped forward.

He started berating the fox.

“Fred! Just what do you think you’re doing? We had an agreement! Remember?!”, Charlie bellowed.

“Shhh, someone will hear! It’s the youngins see. Ever since Farmer Johnson across the valley got rid of his chickens they haven’t been getting enough to eat. My youngest has fallen sick now. I’m afraid we need more than the half dozen eggs you’ve been providing.”, said the fox.

“How many do you need?”, replied Charlie.

“A full dozen would do us well.”

“A dozen!”, Charlie sputtered, “I could never sneak that many out without raising suspicions! I’m not sure how we’ve managed a half dozen a day for this long now. Poor Millie, I had been sneaking her egg away each day. Her mind being addled and all she never noticed. Sadly, the coop keeper noticed no eggs were coming from her roost and she’s been sent to The Pot.”

“Oh dear!”, replied Fred.

“The others, I think they notice something is amiss but haven’t pinned it down yet. I’ve had to let that filthy rat into the coop in broad daylight just to take the heat off me.”

“My my…what am I going to do?”, Fred pondered, “I can’t go back to my den empty handed.”

[To be continued…(Insidious, Bravado part 2 of 3),(Unexpected, Bravado part 3 of 3)]

Word of the Day Challenge: bravado

Special thanks to TheDigitalArtist for the image.

[I originally posted this over at SharedHere]

Date Night (story)

Allen and Susan were having their first date night out in what seemed like forever. Between their kids’ recitals, practices, and games there didn’t seem to be time for just the two of them anymore.

Allen had arranged for his mother-in-law to watch after the kids for this special treat for his wife Susan. He had been planning for weeks and had managed to purchase tickets to a performance of Tchaikovsky’s final Symphony, his wife’s favorite classical composer.

The evening was going great! Dinner was nice and the orchestra performance had been wonderful so far. The musicians were just coming off of a crescendo, their instruments growing silent when a loud noise rang out from Allen’s pocket.

The Vader theme from Star Wars resounded from his phone in the silence left by the now quiet instruments. He had thought it was funny to use that tone for his in-laws when he set it up. Here and now he did not find it so funny. He fumbled quickly for the phone in his pocket, trying to silence the offending device, very conscious of the glares from nearby patrons. No glare more penetrating than that of his now mortified wife.

He managed to silence his phone, dumbfounded how he had forgotten to turn it off in the first place. Worried that the call may have been about one of the children, he excused himself sheepishly and made his way to the lobby to call his mother-in-law back.

“Oh Hi, Allen”, came the voice at the other end of the line. “Is Susan enjoying her night out with you?”

“Uh, well she was…”, he paused a moment, “So I am just calling you back, is everything ok with the kids?”

“Calling me back? I didn’t call you…”, a few moments of silence and then, “Oh, it does show in my call history, must have dialed by accident. I’m sorry. The kids are just fine!”

Allen gritted his teeth slightly, glad everything was fine with the kids but annoyed at the embarrassing ringing of his phone over nothing.

“That’s good. Listen, I need to get back to Susan. We should be home on time.”, Allen said and then hung up the phone.

Returning back inside to his wife, he assured her the kids were fine to which he received a cold shoulder. He wasn’t going to forget this night. No, his wife was not going to allow that. For years he would hear about the night his wife almost enjoyed the symphony.

[The End]

Thanks to Word of the Day Challenge for the prompt.

And special thanks to TravelCoffeeBook for the image!

(Originally posted to my other blog, SharedHere)

5 Vibrant Blooms to Boost Your Thursday

It’s Thursday. Past Wednesday and winding down for the week but not yet to the freedom following the Friday workday. Here’s 5 vibrant bloom images to boost your mood and see you through the day.

First up a beautiful oriental lily. This one growing tall in my mother-in-law’s flower garden.

Here we have a very large Hibiscus bloom catching some early evening rays.

This rose of sharon bloom is looking quite refreshed in the early morning glow after a light overnight rain.

Golden lillies in full sun, lookin’ rich!

Number 5, not the robot, is a glowing lone pink rose blossom.

Now go tackle the rest of the week!

Awkward! (story)

Awkward. That’s one way to describe how Kylie felt after rounding the corner right into an open locker door. Mostly she just wanted to melt away. To be away from the glares and stares of the other students crowding the halls between classes. As if her day hadn’t been going bad enough, now she had the whole school gawking at her clumsiness.

Just then the locker door swung closed. Standing at the locker was none other than the high school’s star quarterback, Brock.

“Was that you?”, Brock asked, looking almost sympathetic.

“Uhh, sorry.”, was all Kylie could manage. She looked about, hoping to see an easy exit from the situation but no path seemed clear.

“I’m sorry, Kylie isn’t it?”, Brock said. “I’ve seen you around. I hear you play a wicked game of soccer.”

Kylie blushed slightly at the compliment but mostly because her biggest crush was actually talking to her.

“Yeah, soccer is the best!, uhh, not that football isn’t good too.”, she replied, knowing his status on the school team.

Brock smiled a warm smile as the butterflies bounced about in Kylie’s stomach.

“Would, uh, would you like to hang out after the game this Friday?”, Brock asked, his turn to seem a little nervous.

“Yes, I think I would like that very much!”, She replied with little hesitation.

“Perfect, meet me back here after next class and we can exchange numbers and plans.”, Brock said.

They both left off towards their next classes, a bit hurried to beat the bell. A final glance they shared between them just before passing out of sight. Awkwardness forgotten, Kylie thought just how good the day was after all.

[The end.]

(originally posted to my discontinued blog, Shared Here)

Special thanks to tlparadis for the lockers image.